


I'm Not What You Think I'm Made Of

by Silverfoxbane (TheSilverFoxQueen)



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 18:25:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23767873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSilverFoxQueen/pseuds/Silverfoxbane
Summary: There are more to some than meet the eye. Other times, you can look at someone and know what to expect. This was true of Shapeshifters and of Humans. Skye's a coyote -- not a surprise, is it? May was unmistakably feline. You'd expect Fitz to be a lion? "Leo" after all. Ward to be a wolf? Well, you may be wrong.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. We're just animals still learning to behave

**Author's Note:**

> This is an Alternate Universe where Shapeshifters exist. These are people born with the ability to transform into an animal. They start out with what could be described as a "Wild" form which looks similar to the normal animal but usually larger and may have a different coloration. From there, with practice or a push, they can "unlock" new forms. 
> 
> Shapeshifters can also partially shift and may have some "abilities" when in "human" form. Shapeshifters are still vulnerable to the same things normal humans are vulnerable. And yes, they keep their clothes when they shift. 
> 
> Shapeshifters aren't secret in this universe.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye discovered something extraordinary.

Nothing could have prepared Skye for this. 

Okay, they had had aliens falling from the sky and a billionaire in a metal suit, a World War II hero, some green monster, a god from Norse Mythology, and god knows what else fighting bespoken aliens. So a building exploding shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise.

People screamed and she heard the scratching of claws on concrete. She saw a large fox crouch on the ground and a lynx cowering behind a car. Skye herself fought the urge to turn tail and run. But that had been the building she was spying on. She pulled out her phone to record. She remembered she had left a microphone there. She hoped it hadn’t been destroyed since it hadn’t been cheap. At least she had money to spare since she didn’t need to pay for utilities other than gas.

Then, the impossible happened. A man jumped from the building, a woman in his arms. He landed, the concrete cracking. He had a hood obscuring his features. Skye tried to get closer. And then he saw her. She saw him and began lowering her camera. He bolted and she tried to follow him for a moment. But there were more pressing matters. Like the injured woman. 

Skye had never felt more thankful that her shifted form was what she’d like to call a coyote but she wasn’t totally sure. Her form slunk through the alley, her dark pelt helping her hide. She watched the “Hooded Hero” as he en. She didn’t like calling him that since it sounded pretty lame to her. Though there was literally a guy in a metal suit called “Iron Man” and a guy in stars and stripes called “Captain America”. 

She saw him entering a coffee shop. This was her chance and she took it. Shifting back, she went into the coffee shop. She saw him looking at a newspaper and circling in red. He obviously wasn’t doing the crosswords. Not with a red marker of all things.

Now, it was time for her to get answers. She had to be subtle. She went to sit with him. That wasn’t suspicious. She looks around, her eyes darting. That was not suspicious behavior at all.

“Act natural,” she hissed at the hero. 

“What?” he responded. That seemed natural? 

“Just pretend that we’re talking,” she replied.

“We are.”

“Good,” she said. “‘Cause you never know who’s listening.” She didn’t know why the government would bug a coffee shop. 

“I don’t even know who’s talking,” he replied. Didn’t he recognize her?

“I’m Skye,” she said.”And you’re the hooded hero.” She thought for a second. “Please tell me that you’re not staying with that name.” He could do so much better than that. Like… she couldn’t think of anything good right now. But maybe with a costume, they could give a new name?

“Wait, what? I’m not -- I’m a factory worker.” She scoffed at that. Like hell he was. Though, she didn’t know why he was looking through the employment section of the newspaper. Did he not like his job? Or was he out of a job?

“Sure, by day. I saw you. You’re a hero. Like a for real superhero which is -- I’m not, like, a groupie, stalker-type, but…” She laughed. “Oh my god! That is so cool!” She stopped herself for a second. “Okay, okay, chill. Just don’t -- don’t draw attention.” Whether that was for her or for him would be unknown. “You’re in danger.”

“You got the wrong guy, lady,” he replied. She wanted to scream. Did he not recognize her or was he still playing dumb?

“No, you’ve got the wrong approach. The cute girl from the hospital is dying to thank you -- and possibly ‘thank’ you. And you’re hiding. The clip of you rescuing her has had the most hits since that puppy with vertigo, and you can’t even find a job.” She was particularly proud of that accomplishment. Especially since she was probably responsible for at least a thousand of the puppy’s views.

“What do you mean about danger?” he asked. She finally got his attention!

“S.H.I.E.L.D.” She looked around before saying it. She knew they weren’t like Voldemort and she could say their name without Death Eaters arriving. But you could never be sure it wasn’t like that. Except instead of witches and wizards apparating, they’d be suits from helicopters.

“Shield, what? I should carry a shield?” he asked. She shook her head. However, it would be cool. Though, they already had one shield-carrying hero. Though it could be cool to have a hero named “Shield”. It would confuse the suits for sure.

“No, we don’t need another Captain America,” she deadpanned. “S.H.I.E.L.D. Government. Scary men in dark suits who come after guys like you. They knew about the battle of New York before it even happened. And then cleaned it up before anyone else could ask questions -- overnight. How long do you think it’ll take for them to clean you up?”

“And you want to know why I’m hiding?” Fair point.

“What if you didn’t hide? What if you got in front of this and let people know that you’re a hero?” She smiled at the thought.

“I’m just a guy”

“A guy who jumped from a burning building and breaking the concrete when he landed instead of his legs.” She didn’t know why he was selling himself short. Maybe that was why he couldn’t get a job? Because he was too humble? “A guy like that gets work, gets perks. I can help. I’m great with computers. Like, weirdly great. I mean I could help you create a whole new identity or… a mask.”

“Uh, okay--” He tried to leave.

“Well, you could just -- also we could just stick with the… hood.” They could make it work. After all, they had superheroes named “Iron Man” and “Hulk”. “Listen, you cannot walk away from this. With great power comes… a ton of weird crap that you are not prepared to deal with. Now my office is-- “

“You have an office?” he asked.

“Yes, I have an office,” she said. He didn’t seem to believe her. Skye wouldn’t blame him. “It’s a mobile...office. It’s a...a van. I live in it -- by choice. But it’s always in the alley around the corner -- free wifi and you can come by anytime.”

“Thank you.” 

She had him!

He turned away.

Well, can’t win them all.

“They’re coming for you!” she warned him as he left. And then she looked at the I.D. she swiped from him.” “Mike.”

* * *

Skye was back at what she did best. Wreaking havoc on the internet. After that meeting with Mike, she felt a bit more devious. So, she recorded her message.

"How will you come at us? From the air? From the ground? How will you silence us this time? How can you? The truth is in the wind. It's everywhere. You cannot stop the Rising Tide. You will not find us. You will never see our faces but rest assured—we will rise against those who shield us from the truth. And nothing--nothing can stop us in the…”

Her van door opened up and two men in suits were there. They had come for her. And Skye was not going down without a fight.

“Hey! What up?” And then a bag was placed over her head and this was when she knew she wasn’t going without a fight. She shifted, her head slipping out of the bag. Ha! They didn’t know she was a Shapeshifter!

She bolted, her black form sliding between the agents. She had a plan. Lead them away and double back for her van. Then leave them in the dust! See, that was why she lived in a van! All she’d need to do was dig through a scrap yard for new plates and maybe get new paint. 

She wasn’t fast enough as one of the agents -- the young one -- grabbed her tail.

Oh. Hell. No.

She turned, trying to bite something. Maybe his ankle or his hand. Possibly destroy his shoes or fancy suit. But she felt him grab her scruff and she was on the ground. She still kept struggling. Had she had the ability to talk in this form, she would have been screaming, “You’ll never take me alive!” However, the snarls, barks, and howls were probably enough. 

Why couldn’t she have been a tiger? Or a wolf? Or at least something that wasn’t a hundred-pound coyote. She was fairly normal for coyote standards, three and a half feet tall at the shoulder. But that was basically the size of a large dog and most of her was long legs and slender body. She felt the bag slip over her head. Goddamnit.

* * *

She shifted back to preserve some dignity. But she had been captured by S.H.I.E.L.D.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the first chapter! Was going to try to do the full Pilot but it's late and I wanted to get out what I could. This story mostly is told from Skye's POV which is why I've skipped the stuff with Phill and Ward. But, perhaps we might have a chapter from Fitz's POV instead?
> 
> How do y'all like it? What do you want to see next?


	2. I'm the one at the sail, I'm the master of my sea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye did not think this through. Fitz was thinking too much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Seeing a comment and a kudo inspired me to try to finish a chapter asap. More chapters to come!

Fitz didn’t know what to expect. He wasn’t sure if he even wanted to be here. But Simmons was excited to be on the field team and one may have expected Fitz to be too. But anyone hearing that Leopold Fitz was a Shapeshifter would have expected him to be a lion. But he wasn’t a lion… at least for the most part. He always questioned why his mother named him “Leo”. She was a cheetah herself so it was no mystery that Fitz was one too.

The night before, Fitz had been pacing back and forth in his shifted form. A tall cheetah with slightly heavier build than a normal cheetah but still having nothing on a lion. His spots were slightly faded by only the slightest degree and his tail was long enough to drag on the ground. His mane was still ruffled -- a mane nothing like a lion’s but more of longer fur on the back of his neck. He was four and a half feet at the shoulder.

Today, he was still nervous. The shadow of the cheetah was visible at times. This plane was huge! He was afraid of screwing up and he knew that Simmons and he weren’t fully certified for the field team. Even in the Shifted combat though Fitz was pretty fast, though a bit slow for a cheetah. 

Jemma was excited. So, he forced a smile onto his face and forced the cheetah back down. He was worried about her.

* * *

"Fitz-Simmons?" an unfamiliar voice asked. They turned from their arguing to see a man with dark hair that was obviously an agent. The mn was obviously trying to figure out who was Fitz-Simmons; he didn’t seem to know that “Fitz-Simmons” referred to the pair of scientists. Was he new? Or was it the agent that would be joining them?

"Fitz," Jemma said, pointing across the table at him.

"Simmons," he said and pointed at her. "I'm engineering and she's biochem." He paused. "Agent Ward?" So this was Agent Ward. He didn’t know “Fitz-Simmons”?

"Coulson said I'd need my comm receiver encoded." Fitz took it from him. "Don't know if you've worked with that model before." Fitz had and he knew exactly what to do with it. “It’s--” He took a hammer to it. “--Brand new.”

“He’ll repurpose the I.D.I.S chip,” Simmons explained.

“Don’t need the external receiver for the inner ear comms anymore,” Fitz added as he examined the chip.

“So, uh, how does it --” Grant was starting to ask when Simmons swooped in, q-tip in hand.

“Embedded sensorineural silicone matched to your DNA,” she said as she swabbed his mouth. “It’s very posh.” She then tried to start a conversation with the guy she just swabbed the mouth of. “So, are you excited to be coming on our journey into mystery?”

“Don’t be so dramatic, Simmons,” Fitz interjected.

“It’s like Christmas,” the agent replied.

They were interrupted by the screech of tires and then a red corvette pulled up. Agent Coulson had arrived.

“One of Coulson’s old S.H.I.E.L.D collectibles.” Fitz looked at the car. “Flamethrowers, the world’s first GPS. He’s mad for this crap.” 

“Don’t touch Lola,” Coulson said as one of the workers came close. Coulson had said the exact same thing to Fitz when he first saw the car.

“And he calls it a girl’s name,” Fitz added.

* * *

* * *

Skye was thankful to have that bag off of her head. God knows where that had been. Whose head had been in that bag before her? But that thought was pushed out of the way as she saw the room they brought her into. Dark with hexagon-patterned walls. Interesting. The set-up told her that this was an interrogation room. The tail-pulling agent forced her into a seat.

“You guys are making a big mistake,” she warned.

“You don’t look that big,” the younger agent said. She felt the shadow of the coyote slipping over her but she forced it back down. But not before the snap and snarl of the shadow. 

“Sorry for the lack of finesse,” the older one said and she scoffed. “Lack of finesse”? Dude pulled her tail! She glared at the other agent. “And the tail-pulling,” the man added. Though the other guy did not look sorry. “Agent Ward here has had a little history with your group, the Rising Tide.” She was in deep crap now.

“I don’t know… what you’re--” She tried to play dumb. She knew they had her but she might as well try.

“Okay,” Agent Ward cut her off. “There are two ways we can do this.” Skye didn’t know if they’d torture her. They could, right? It was legal to waterboard someone? 

“Oh, is one of them the easy way?” she asked. 

“No.”

“Oh.”

“What’s your name?” Ward asked. They had her in a corner.

“Skye.”

“What’s your real name?” the agent asked again. Oh no, they were not going to know that.

“That can wait,” the second agent spoke up. She was thankful for that. “It’s another name we need -- a certain hero.” Well, she was right about S.H.I.E.L.D coming after Mike. When she escaped, she would have to tell him. He’d take her seriously now.

“What makes you think I know that?” Skye replied. Did they have agents in the coffeeshop?

“Well, you made a little mistake,” the older agent said. Mistake? What mistake? “The phone you filmed the hooded hero with had the same cryptographic signature as a few of the rising tide posts.” She cursed herself for being careless. That was a rookie mistake! But the gears turned in her head. She was in their secret base, wasn’t she?

“Wow. Yeah. Was that a mistake?” She could turn this around! “Or am I now sitting in the center of your secret headquarters? What is this? A plane?” She remembered smelling something like jet fuel. “I got inside. And by now, you’ve discovered you can’t beat the encryption on my equipment, so you’ve got nothing.” She felt smug.

“We have a fairly strong coincidence -- you being on the scene right before it went up in flames,” the older agent said. 

She was screwed.

“Want to tell me what my team is gonna find out?”

* * *

* * *

Fitz wished he could match Jemma’s excited energy. But he couldn’t. Where did she even get that energy from? He was curious but cautiously curious. He eyed the cracked pavement, having been curious and watched the video. The impact of the man’s landing was stark. His legs should have been broken. It was impossible.

* * *

* * *

“How did you know the hooded man was in the building?” the agent asked.

“Did you blow it up to draw him out?” the younger agent asked. She was appalled he would think that. Why would he think that? She would love to see this guy’s train of thought. Why would she blow up a building and post it to YouTube? For views? People could have died! No, she could never. That was wrong.

“Did you?” Skye fired back. She was angry.

“That’s not our style,” the older agent replied. Skye scoffed. Sure it wasn’t. She’d seen enough of S.H.I.E.L.D to know.

“I was just kidnapped by your ‘style’,” Skye replied. She decided to tell them how much she knew. “S.H.I.E.L.D covered up New Mexico, Project Pegasus. Of course, you’d be covering up Centipede.” The room went silent and it was clear she had caught them off-guard. “Holy no way,” she said. She was shocked. “Billions of dollars of equipment at your disposal, and I beat you with a laptop that I won in a bet?” Skye had never been more proud of herself since she had won that bet.

“You need to think about your friend,” the older agent said. “We’re not the only ones interested in people with powers. We’d like to contain him, yeah. The next guy will want to exploit him, and the guy after that will want to dissect him.” Skye didn’t realize that.

“What is Centipede?” Agent Ward cut back in.

* * *

* * *

“This was a lab,” Jemma observed. Fitz wasn’t sure if she was making audio notes. The scent of burnt plastic and other things stung Fitz’s nose so he wasn’t sure. “Was this leased as a lab?”

“Self-employment center,” Agent May answered. She chuckled. “With a top-of-the-line motion-sensor security system.”

“Ah. So a secret lab,” Simmons said. She bent down to examine a body. Fitz could smell it from where he was and it made his stomach turn a bit.

“And a superhero,” May added. “Not a coincidence. So was this explosion sabotage? Or was it meant for him? Or were they just in over their heads?” Fitz felt a bit nervous being here. What if whoever blew this place up came back?

“Yeah, working on the problem,” Fitz brought in a case. “Ladies, if you’ll just -- “Fitz maneuvered between them. “--Sorry.”

“If you’re going to be in the field, Agent Fitz, you have to get your hands dirty,” May said. 

“No, I don’t,” Fitz replied as he pulled out his D.W.A.R.F.s. “Heigh-ho, off to work you go,” he sang as he deployed them. His mother loved Snow White. And they were his little dwarves, off to mine information.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I probably won't be posting like three chapters per episode for 0-8-4 but I decided to end at a turning point-ish for Skey while including Fitz's parts. It was a struggle with it being difficult to do voice-overs in chapters so parts were short. Still trying to figure things out. I've been sticking to the dialogue in the episodes (thank heck for subtitles) with a couple of additions here and there. Not sure if I'll stick with that format of the entire episode. But I am considering a bit of changing things since we have Shapeshifters.
> 
> How do y'all like it? What do you think? How do you like Fitz's form?


End file.
